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Topic: Has anyone tried Baclofen? (Read 379 times) |
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maria
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I ran across this article the other day. The drug is Baclofen which is a muscle relaxant. It is commonly used to treat children with cerebral palsy who have severe spasticity or high muscle tone. I also remember someone who posted earlier this year who reported cessation of the CH after taking Robaxin, which is another type of muscle relaxant. I could not find this thread in the archive it must be in DJ's lost archive collection somewhere. I also did a search for Baclofen in the archives, got a couple of hits, but nothing of significance one way or another. Here is the article, the authors also did a similar study previously with a smaller sample but similar results:
: Curr Pain Headache Rep 2001 Feb;5(1):79-82 Related Articles, Links
The use of baclofen in cluster headache.
Hering-Hanit R, Gadoth N.
Department of Neurology, Meir General Hospital, Sapir Medical Center, 59 Jabotinski Street, Kfar Saba 44288, Israel.
Cluster headache is a rare, clinically well-characterized disabling disorder that occurs in both episodic and chronic forms. The very painful short-lived unilateral headache attacks are associated with autonomic dysfunction. A large number of drugs such as ergotamines, steroids, methysergide, lithium carbonate, verapamil, valproate, capsaicin, leuprolide, clonidine, methylergovine maleate, methylphenidate, and melatonin are considered beneficial for prophylaxis. Nevertheless, this extremely painful condition is occasionally refractory to conventional treatment. The antispastic agent baclofen has been shown to possess an antinociceptive activity. Its efficacy in neuralgias, central pain following spinal lesions, painful strokes, migraine, and medication misuse chronic daily headache suggests that it may be useful for prevention of cluster headache attacks. Therefore, we treated 16 symptomatic patients with cluster headache with daily baclofen, 15 to 30 mg, in three divided doses for the cluster period and 2 weeks after. Within a week, 12 patients reported the cessation of attacks. One was substantially better and became attack free by the end of the following week. In the remaining three patients, the attacks worsened and corticosteroids were prescribed. One of these was also given verapamil. Three of the 16 patients had an additional cluster period, which cleared with a second course of baclofen. In this pilot study, baclofen seemed to be effective, safe, and well tolerated for cluster headache, and seemed to retain its efficacy on repeated clusters.
This study claims a 75% success rate after one week, compared to the 30% success rate of Verapamil (based on results from the OUCH survey.
I met some people at the convention who have tried every drug made to no avail and wondered if maybe this could be helpful. Has anybody tried this?
Maria
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| « Last Edit: Sep 20th, 2002, 8:17pm by maria » |
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clavers
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Re: Has anyone tried Baclofen?
« Reply #1 on: Sep 20th, 2002, 10:37am » |
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After reading this same material I persuaded my neuro. to prescribe baclofen last Feb. I have taken 30mg a day since then in combination with verapamil and lithium. I initially experienced two months of remission (I am chronic) followed by a month of CH. Then there came another month of remission followed by another month or so of headaches. In August I began a period of CH that has continued to get worse. I am hoping for another month of remission but none is apparent. Baclofen has been a good drug for me and I hope that it will come through again.
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maria
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Re: Has anyone tried Baclofen?
« Reply #2 on: Sep 21st, 2002, 10:23am » |
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Thanks for your reply Clavers. I am wondering why if this drug has such a high sucess rate, it is not being tried more often? And Bob P why isn't it listed as a medication for CH in the OUCH library? Maria
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oringkid
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Re: Has anyone tried Baclofen?
« Reply #3 on: Sep 21st, 2002, 1:16pm » |
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My husband tells me that it is very expensive. Around $10 per pill.
He got some from a friend when he hurt his back.
There are 2 left...wonder if I can keep em around till my next cycle? Course 2 wouldn't do me much good. But they put my husband out. Maybe it helps in getting the sleep you need.
Sherry
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barbee
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Re: Has anyone tried Baclofen?
« Reply #4 on: Sep 21st, 2002, 6:54pm » |
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$10 per pill for bacloven? Hey, that's about the same as most of the triptans. Amerge is around $90 for 9 pills, (without copay) and zomig around the same for 6 pills.
490 [color=Green][/color]
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dougW
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Re: Has anyone tried Baclofen?
« Reply #5 on: Sep 23rd, 2002, 9:06pm » |
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I'm not sure when the costs of $10 came from.
baclofen at RXlist.com's online pharmacy:
http://www.drugstore.com/pharmacy/prices/drugprice.asp?ndc=00364231201&a mp;trx=1Z5006
90 pills for $23.21 thats about 25 cents each!!!
An interesting article....... " baclofen has been shown to possess an antinociceptive activity"
Ok, it blocks pain, I'm not sure how we would abort a cycle with it, but I would certainly try it, especially if other meds have been of limited success, or cost prohibitive.
Thanks for posting this.
Doug
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Bob P
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Re: Has anyone tried Baclofen?
« Reply #6 on: Sep 24th, 2002, 8:47am » |
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Maria,
Tried e-mailing you but it was returned by my server.
It wasn't in the medications page because I hadn't heard about it. It is now listed on the Medications page and the article you posted is in the Library.
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maria
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Re: Has anyone tried Baclofen?
« Reply #7 on: Sep 24th, 2002, 9:30am » |
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Thanks for your replies Doug and Bob, I am hoping this drug is as effective for treating CH's as reported in this study.
Maria
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oringkid
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Re: Has anyone tried Baclofen?
« Reply #8 on: Sep 25th, 2002, 3:43pm » |
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Well, the info was 3rd hand knowledge so, very likely inaccurate. Good to know it's not that expensive. Especially if it works!
Sherry
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